BEHIND HER EYES BEHIND THE HYPE

 

Behind Her Eyes initially seems to be a cross between a  midweek ITV drama about middle class relationships and those old Nescafé Gold Blend adverts but turns into something else, something that aspires to Lynchian in it's dream sequences (you can tell a lot about a show by the quality of its dream sequences)

Set in my stomping ground, Islington it has all the ingredients of the love triangle drama that we have become accustomed too. Enigmatic wife, conflicted mistress and mysteriously deep husband are al there along with middle class guilt and the obligatory hidden depths. So far so Sunday supplement. But things start to get a little strange as it heads towards Black Mirror territory.

The trick is that it manages to retain an air of superficiality to go along with the mannered performances, while it asks more of the viewer.  It’s a programme that many will hate as it’s last act is, shall we say, bonkers.

I dare say it would not be broadcast on ITV on a Wednesday evening, nor would it fit into BBC1's flagship Sunday night slot. Possibly BBC 4 or Channel 4 would give it a go but Netflix suits it and often challenging fare is championed on on this platform.

Don't get me wrong; in terms of challenging it's hardly Twin Peaks but its, well, odd.

I’m still digesting it, and for me it’s on the cusp of absolute nonsense masquerading as art and art masquerading as audio visual wallpaper. it's certainly being discussed by many and the consensus on it is that there is no consensus on it.

But, in this day and age where conformity rules, that’s not a bad thing

SHOW ME THE FUNNY

 

 I was feeling a little jaded today and a funny quote popped into my head, its from Jerry Lewis' the Nutty Professor;

Gym Attendant: "Are you hurt?"

Professor Julius Kelp: "Well, if a man with an ulcer and a splinter in his finger and a nail in his foot was then struck by lightning, if you could say that man was not hurt then yes you could say I'm not hurt”-The Nutty Professor 

With funny quotes from some of my favourite films in mind, here are some funny quotes from some of my favourite films. enjoy

Dr Hirsch:“I’ve survived Rommel so I’m sure I can survive another excruciating evening with Rodger Matheson”-An American Werewolf In London

RUNNING RIOT

There was a time when the only adults you saw running were those chasing after a Routemaster bus with the intention of leaping onto the rear platform, then catching their breath while delving into their pocket to give their fare to the expectant conductor. Or alternatively, if you saw adults running it was generally associated with a fracas of some sort.

We now have parks, open spaces and pavements to use for our daily exercise while the current lockdown inexorably marches on. A brisk walk or a leisurely stroll  does wonders for one's mental health as well as general health and a visit to the park, heath or field is particularly invigorating, involving as it does, a bit of nature and fresh air.

However there is one group of people that interfere with headspace, disrupt quiet time, interfere with tranquility and barge into benign thought. That group are runners.

I'm not talking about joggers, those that calmly pass by at a non intimidating pace, I'm talking about runners. 

They hurtle towards the pedestrian at breakneck speed, gasping and spluttering with furrowed eyebrow and glare of eyes. Their expectation that the walker, who has the audacity to not be doing an impression of Usain Bolt, leap aside to give right of way.

The runner has the pompous air of superiority and lack of awareness of personal space of a Russian oligarch on a shopping spree in Harvey Nicholls.

The Runner, you see, is focussed, so focussed that children, the aged and those with hot drinks are merely obstacles standing in the way of their pursuit of perfection.

They don't need to use the footpath if they want to beat their personal bests over 200 metres, after all, surely it's better for them not to have to confront elderly couples enjoying some fresh air when they are in the zone. It feels like wilful confrontation and can of course lead to the most unmellowing of mellows.

Run if you like, run as fast as you can, but do it where there is space, and there is so much empty space to race in London without imposing your whirling olympian limbs on an unsuspecting public out and about.

If the pedestrian world was a road users world the runner would be a cross between a Gold Range Rover Sport owner and a White Van Driver.

COUNTDOWN CONUNDRUM

Now that we've been told of the countdown to take us out of lockdown are we any the wiser as to what the longer term holds? For most the immediate impact of the governments road map is the prospect of seeing friends and family again, getting heads around returning to work, getting back to the Pub, Bar and Cinema. 

Is the handshake a thing of the past? will masks still be evident as a matter of choice? will social distancing be an entrenched habit? nobody knows as this situation has never been faced before. However, there are probably some things that the government haven't factored into their round to recovery

March 8th-Sees the return to the High street of discarded yellow chicken shop boxes as children return to the corners of the High street between 3.00-5.00 as they dawdle towards home with a deep fried piece of avian matter clutched in their ravenous maw.

April 12th-Sees an upswing in undesirables asking for 'spare' cigarettes and 'spare' change from those supping a well deserved drink at a table outside their local hostelry. 

May 17th-Sees the reintroduction of wedding reception punch-ups at overcrowded community halls up and down the country.

June 21st-Sees the Omaha beach scenario as a staple of Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in town and city centres throughout the land as everyone gets totally of their nuts on cheap alcohol and Bolivian marching powder.

Throughout this crisis Boris has spoken about the common sense of the British Public, and that's the conundrum; do you trust people or do you assume that people are idiots? Lets hope that he has made adequate provision for the possibility that common sense may very well go out of the window in the next few months.

POWER CORRUPTION AND LIES

What attributes does a politician need to have? What skill set? Self sacrifice, public service, honour, and integrity, honesty a good grasp of constitutional law and an understanding of the issues facing their constituency as well as the country as a whole. A desire to empower and inspire and a passion for leadership. Those qualities, if upheld, should not make that politician immune from scrutiny and scrutiny is fine when one has no need to hide.

Unfortunately what we have at the moment, a time of global and domestic crisis, are politicians at the helm whose default position is to go against all semblance of the qualities needed to lead and more to the point, seem immune from any semblance of accountability.

Lies, deception and a flagrant disregard for the rules they themselves impose would seem dishonest at best and downright corrupt at worst. It’s the downright temerity that grates; the lack of shame for such overtly scandalous behaviour. But who needs shame when you have hubris?

Ah hubris, that great leveller of god and man. When, in May of last year, we saw a dishevelled Dominic Cummings amble into his press conference, late and with his shirt hanging out, to explain his lockdown breaking trip what we saw was hubris, arrogance and hubris. 

Now in February 2021 Hancock steps up into the hubristic spotlight. The difference this time around is that Hancock’s misdemeanours are buried beneath tabloid outrage at Prince Harry and his African American wife and he perception that they have turned their backs on the Royal family. I find nothing strange in their choice, particularly as neither of them are related to the queen or Philip.

When the media overlook the blatant inappropriate behaviour of those entrusted with the destiny of our country it gives permission for that behaviour. A hubristic leadership normalises lying, cheating and brown envelopes, jobs for the boys and a nudge-nudge wink-wink culture, but when our bastions of truth are in cahoots with that behaviour there is little hope of seeing our appointed leaders through anything other than the prism of distrust. It seems that, for those in parliament, those wax wings are flame proof.

SLOW DOWN

 

The late great Jack Hargreaves 

Give 'em what they want. That's the mantra for producers and TV companies, and what they want is slow TV. Repairs, antiques, pottery, cooking, baking, crafting, home decor, gardening and staycationing are the current kings and queens of the schedules. 

The proliferation of property based TV shows and Celebrity Cook programmes in the Nineties and Noughties was all about the money and the ego. This new breed of TV shows takes a low key approach and let's the ingredients speak for themselves. We all have time on our hands at the moment in this never ending lockdown and time spent pursuing interests is in itself interesting.

This rebirth of Slow TV brings to mind Out Of Town with Jack Hargreaves, Going For A Song and Robert Harbin's Origami. During this first golden age of Slow TV we were given people who enjoyed their passions and had an ability to simply do their own thing in front of a camera in an engaging and interesting way. Magnus Pike and Patrick Moore bought their enthusiasm for science to our screens in a uniquely British eccentric manner and there were a number of unlikely TV presenters talking about low key interests.

Slow TV 2021 is a mirror for the times in which we find ourselves. Flash! Bang! Wallop! seems jaded now, Softly, Softly is the new black. The armchair is the safe place, the living room the sanctuary and it is in this context that we find ourselves gradually getting immersed in TV without drama, TV that calms.

The new Slow TV exists in the world of Lockdown and Pandemic anxiety, and it is in this unique landscape where the viewer has found time to reflect, time to slow down and time to just be interested.

HOUNDS OF LOVE

 

I like dogs, I think dogs are great. They are loyal, loving and will never turn their back on you. They offer companionship and help we humans to care for another living creature. During this on going lockdown the sight of dogs being walked, carried and generally exercised have punctuated my daily walks. All manner of dogs; big, small, short and tall with a variety of owners to match. 

What I have noticed is that different areas have different canines of choice. The French bulldog is ubiquitous on Hampstead Heath, there is a prevalence of Daschunds on Parliament Hill and the Labrador still holds  sway on Highbury Fields  those teddy bear dogs populate Waterlow Park and Whittington park seems to be the aggressive dog capital of Islington.

In Highgate dog carrying is rife, Crouch End is small dog central and Upper Street has a big dog bias.

For me, I don't care what the make of dog is (although I find the infantilising of small dogs a concern) because I like to see them out and about. They bring a bit of joy to the city during these dark days. Let's hear it for Canis lupus familiaris

JUST ANOTHER MANIC FRIDAY

Today has been pretty manic for reasons I won't bore you with dear reader, which got me to thinking about manic movies. Some movies exude mania, so much so that the viewer is prone to palpitations and hyperventilation. These films take place in heightened states where the protagonist finds themselves in situations of extreme jeopardy, racing against the clock or in bizarre environments.  There is an art to conveying a heightened state of anxiety on the big screen and here are 10 of the stand-outs in the manic movie stakes 

• Uncut Gems- The Safdie brothers look at high stakes gambling and perennial underdogs having their day is a masterpiece of sustained anxiety. The performances, score and editing leave you gasping for your breath.
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit?-Have you ever wondered what it would be like living in the world of Looney Tunes? well, imagine no more, as Bob Hoskins' gumshoe experiences the high octane world of Toons.
• Race With The Devil-A road movie and a satanic cult movie rolled into one. A collision of the great American Road trip and a  literal race for your life.
• Mad Max Fury Road-From minute one this is a furious barrage of action and adrenaline.
• Crank-High concept that hardly allows the audience to blink. Statham at his boneheaded action hero best
• It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World-Greed is good; or is it? Take a whose who of American comedians and have them race across the country in search of buried treasure and you get this over the top concoction that is both funny and nerve shredding
• The Congress- A bizarre blend of live action and animation where the viewer is unsure what's going on but whatever it is that's going on is crazy
• Hard Boiled-A bullet flying, scenery splintering action bonanza from John Woo that never wanes in its relentless pace
• The Evil Dead 2 : Dead By Dawn-The sequel that ratchets things up to 11. By turns scary and hilarious
• Duck Soup-The masters of mania The Mark Brothers satirise politics magnificently

"WOT NO GRASP OF THE FUNCTION OF THE HUMAN RESPIRATORY SYSTEM?"

I often wonder if IQ's have dropped sharply or that the general public have an inability to follow simple instructions. Queues seem to be a thing of the past; the idea that you would wait behind somebody who had arrived at a bus stop before you is now passé it would see. We are bombarded with written information and instructions which, in their own way, actually make people less likely to read what is written. We are saturated with reminders to be polite, civil and well mannered, which fall upon deaf ears and limited attention spans. This relentless information overkill shouldn't be needed. Values and standards should be in place as part of growing up, not things that the government, LRT and the neutered Police Service should have to remind people of.

Which brings me to my current bette noir; those that are unable to wear a face mask correctly. Of all the numerous instructions and reminders that should be headed, the way in which to wear  face masks is a critical piece of information that could, literally, save lives. Yet there are still those that don't get it and I don't know why. This is a separate issue to those that expound conspiracy theory and choose not to wear a mask at all as some sort of act of rebellion; these people are trying to make a point, albeit a misguided and possibly lethal one.

I'm talking about the hard of thinking for whom the basic grasp of how the human respiratory system works is as alien a concept as the theory of the existence of dark matter, which is that the motion of galaxies in the Coma cluster, and of nearby stars in our own galaxy, do not follow the expected motion based on Newton's law of gravity and the observed visible masses, is to a 4 year old.

The sight of numerous proboscis peaking over the top of masks like Chad (for our American cousins 'Kilroy') is both infuriating and unfathomable. Is it that they don't understand or is it that they genuinely believe that leaving their hooters exposed isn't an issue? The thing is that there is no one prepared to tell them, no one prepared to say "Oi, mate, do us a favour and cover your nostrils will you? cheers" as the prospect of being on the receiving end of a barrage of abuse (at best) or the end of a blade (at worst) is extremely off putting.

Never has the sight of the human olfactory organ been so offensive or, potentially, deadly.

I AM NOT A ROBOT

I am not a robot. there, I've said it, what more do you want? Oh, I have to select which pictures have bicycles in them. Problem is, do you count motorbikes or not? Want me to select pictures of boats then? but is a dinghy a boat? is a hovercraft a boat? or a Yacht, or a tanker? really, make it clear. Okay, now you want me to draw a box around the biggest plane, choose which pictures have a crossing in them and decipher those wiggly barely legible set of letters and numbers. Lower case, upper case, is that an o or a 0? 

The irony is that I'm being asked to prove that I am a sentient being by a computer, or, basically a robot.

We have gone from service industries where the key tenets where "how can I help you?' to systems which require us to prove who, and what we are. The customer used to always be right, now the customer is the consumer, and the robots would have you believe that they are doing you a favour when you try to interact.

The pitfalls of trying to get anything done online are beset by the iniquities of required fields and the tyranny of robotic jobsworths telling you when and if you can move onto the next page of your online odyssey. It seems that man's mechanical helper has become the Orwellian figure that some predicted.

אַנאָרטאַדאַקס

I recently wrote about The Queen's Gambit in glowing terms. A show that has been rightly acknowledged and credited. There is, however another show on Netflix that has a strong, compelling female protagonist, a show that has received faint praise, a show that is, to put it simply, a masterpiece. it's called Unorthodox

This German-American co production is notable for being The first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish, it is inspired by Deborah Feldman's autobiography, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots. 

The four-part miniseries was created and written by the all female team of Anna Winger, Alexa Karolinski and director  Maria Schrader.

The revelation is in  the lead role where Shia Haas is superb and runs Anya Taylor-Joy close as the standout TV actress of recent years.

Haas plays Esty, a 19-year-old Jewish woman, who is struggling to find joy in her arranged marriage and her life in general as part of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in New York’s Williamsburg area of Brooklyn

She seeks an escape from her conformity by travelling to Berlin; home to her estranged mother. It is here that she discovers life outside of the confines of her community, which leads to a rejection of the beliefs forced upon her previously.

Her husband and his sinister cousin travel to Germany to, in effect, bring her back. The story unfolds quietly but with the inner fury of Etsy's frustration. 

When religion is involved controversy is not far away and there has been some discourse as to the accuracy of the portrayal of the Hasidic lifestyle in Unorthodox, but it's not a documentary and the underlying theme could easily apply to a number of situations and circumstances. Besides which, discussion is not a bad thing.

What Unorthodox is is a story of discovery, rebirth and  courage. As an insight into a world that few of us will have fully experienced it raises some interesting issues about faith and the place of the women within. Above all it is a totally compelling tale extremely well told.

 

BRILLIANT IN BLACK AND WHITE

Every once in a while there is a TV programme that makes a remarkable impact on the viewer and, it has to be said, in a world where everyone has seen everything it's proving harder to create original content than ever.

The streaming platforms are bountiful and TV stations available are numerous so in many cases it's quantity over quality, but the show that has proved that an original concept handled the right way can deliver the goods is The Queen's Gambit on Netflix.

Based on Walter Tevis' 1983 novel of the same name about a Chess prodigy and her development in the 50s and 60's, It broaches subjects like drug and alcohol addiction, identity, politics and sexism.

The undoubted star of the show is Anya Taylor-Joy as the protagonist Beth Harmon and it does for Chess what Mad Men did for cigarettes and what the Sopranos did for Psychotherapy. The time and place are captured with real accuracy and the fact that it stands up to Mad Men in that respect is high praise.

Pitching the show as being about Chess would seem a hard sell but its more complicated than that. The way in which the actual Chess games are delivered is full of drama and tension. The relentless logic of the competitions portrayed makes for intense viewing. There are insights into Cold war politics, bullying and the cult of personality that are subtly included in the narrative at no cost to the development of the main characters. The way in which the processes of Beth's strategies are formed is shown in a highly imaginative and gasp inducing manner.

Taylor-Joy and the actresses who plays the young Beth (Isla Johnston and Annabeth Kelly) are all excellent as we see Beth's journey from orphanage to the world stage. As a study of the pursuit of excellence it's strength is Beth's underlying need to achieve, a need to excel that springs initially from insecurity and later from self realisation. 

The Queen's gambit has the highest Netflix rating for any Mini-Series and rightly so as it is really quite brilliant. it's a programme that is both intoxicating and, like Chess itself, is a work out for the mind.